A Review of Urban Planning in Tallinn, Estonia
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A Review of Urban Planning in Tallinn, Estonia: Post-Soviet Planning Initiatives in Historic and Cultural Context by Vaike Haas A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Landscape Architecture School of Natural Resources and Environment University of Michigan, Ann Arbor USA August 2006 Thesis Committee: Dr. Larissa Larsen, University of Michigan Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning Madis Pihlak, Pennsylvania State University Associate Professor of Architecture and Landscape Architecture Beth Diamond, University of Michigan Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture i Abstract Tallinn, Estonia features one of the best-preserved old towns in Europe. The central part of the city, which dates in part back to the 13th century, has drawn millions of tourists each year since the 1990s. In 2004, 6.7 million passengers passed through Tallinn’s ports.1 A short (80-km) ferry ride from Helsinki, Tallinn’s location -- at the crossroads of east-west and north-south trading routes -- has made it highly contested territory since the Crusades. During the twentieth century, Tallinn was subject to interludes of Russian/Soviet and German rule. Since the restoration of Estonia’s independence in 1991, economic and political changes have been rapid. A parliamentary democracy, Estonia in 1998 earned the title of “Europe’s purest free market economy”.2 Estonia joined the European Union on 1 May 2004, and, in the words of one official, now aspires to be “just another boring Nordic country.” Estonia identifies strongly with Scandinavia because of close cultural, linguistic, and economic ties with Finland, and historical links with Sweden and Denmark. The Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen proposed a city plan for 1913 Tallinn, which exerted a hidden influence during the 50 years of Soviet occupation. Soviet-era migrants were accommodated in housing blocks which appear austere today. Estonians, in contrast, found it difficult to find housing, which may have contributed to the rapid decline of their birth rate. Russian and Estonian districts still remain largely separated, in effect making Tallinn “one city, two towns.”3 With a population of 430,000, the city continues to confront the problem of integrating its Russian population, along with challenges of intense tourism, privatization of property, increased demands for housing, and the restructuring of open-space planning. Rapid economic and cultural changes have shaped planning priorities and progress in Tallinn, and have left the city with a physical imprint of its history -- and likely future. 1 Tallinn: Facts and Figures 2005 2 Financial Times 3 Personal communication, Landscape Architecture Professor Madis Pihlak ii Iceland Sweden Finland Norway Russia Estonia Latvia Denmark Lithuania Ireland Belarus England Poland Germany Ukraine Czech Slovakia France Austria Moldova Switzerland Hungary Romania Slovenia Italy Croatia Bosnia Serbia Portugal Bulgaria Spain Macedonia Albania Turkey Greece After Hill & Gaddy 2003: 29 Figure 1: Estonia’s closest neighbors are Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Russia. Tallinn is marked in red. Helsinki St. Petersburg Oslo Stock- Tallinn holm Moscow 0 -10 London Berlin -5 Kiev Paris 5 Figure 2 Tallinn’s latitude is approximately equivalent to Stockholm. Ankara Isotherms show lines of constant Madrid temperature in Europe. Most cities fall where the average January temperature is between 10 0 and -5 C. 1 Table of Contents Tallinn Harju County http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Tallinn_location.png 2 Introduction 4 Context and Location 7 Early Estonian History and Language 14 Estonia under Tsarist Russia: 1710-1917 22 Saarinen’s Plan for Tallinn: 1913 31 The First Period of Estonian Independence: 1918-1940 37 Early Soviet Occupation: 1940-1941 40 Nazi German Occupation: 1941-1944 42 Later Soviet Occupation: 1945-1991 56 The Singing Revolution: 1986-1991 60 The Second Period of Independence: 1991-Present 67 Post-Soviet Sources and Influences of Power within Tallinn 69 Post-Soviet Form and Meaning of the Physical City 86 Post-Soviet Public Policy and Urban Development 92 Post-Soviet Population Change and Ethnic Relations 103 Promoting Multiculturalism in Tallinn 107 Recommendations for Parks 109 Recommendations for Neighborhoods 111 Recommendations for Traffic 115 Recommendations for Green (and Blue) Space 117 Conclusion 120 Appendix: Population and Ethnicity Data 123 References Figures 3a-b Tallinn is located in Harjuu County in northern Estonia (above), 80 km from Helsinki. Tallinn is divided into eight districts (below). Aegna Island Pirita Põhja Tallinn Front Cover Image Center Lasnamäe Haabersti City View of Tallinn from across the bay at the Kristiine Vabaõhumuuseum (Open Air Museum), which Mustamäe features traditional Estonian architecture. Nõmme Harju County Watercolor painting by Vaike Haas 2 Introduction Very little has been written about Tallinn’s city planning in English. Even the city’s masterplan documents from 2000-2005 are only available in Estonian. In order to acquaint English-speakers with a sense of the range of issues that Tallinn’s planners have to tackle, this paper will: 1907 photo by R. von der Loy, Viires 2004: 82 Viires 1907 photo by R. von der Loy, find marks on the city from almost seven centuries of occupation, compare today’s progress toward multiculturalism with historic ethnic relations, identify the major problems and progress in post-Soviet planning, and Figure 4 suggest ways to promote integration Toompea’s north slope is raised through urban planning and design. and isolated by a wall. At the turn of the century, only the Lutheran Cathedral of St. Mary, or Dome Church, claimed the Methods summit. I collected material from sources not readily accessible to English-speakers, in addition to reviewing the literature (in both Estonian and English). I interviewed several city experts and officials, including: the Mayor, the Head of the City Planning Office, the City Landscape Architect, and the former Minister of the Environment. Finally, I photographed historic maps and other Figure 5 Old Town remains very well preserved today. 3 materials with the permission of Tallinn’s Linna Arhiiv (City Archives). Historic Approach Estonian culture is a crossroads of East meets West meets Scandinavia, and Tallinn’s struggles to achieve ethnic integration today reflect a long history of multiculturalism and colonization. This analysis begins with a sampling of Tallinn’s significant historic epochs in order to set the city’s urban planning into context. As urbanists Jean-Luc Pinol and Richard Roger explained, few contemporary concerns can be understood without reference to the historical development of towns and cities.4 In a tiny country little-known to the outside world before 1991, taking an historic–cultural– Figures 6a-c Patrull Stairs connect Toompea’s geographical approach to assessing urban north slope to the city below. planning was especially relevant. Tallinn, like all cities, is part of a larger narrative. Linna Arhiiv photo Tallinn is a town that will never be finished. Legend holds that at midnight in autumn once each year, a small gray old man asks the guards at the town gate whether Tallinn is done being built. The old man wants to open the floodgates restraining the nearby Lake Ülemiste and destroy the city once it is complete; but, each year, the guards tell him construction is ongoing. This legend has poignant relevance in the post- Soviet era, as Estonians seek to erase Soviet traces and ‘reclaim’ Tallinn’s history. According to conflict resolution specialist David Smith: The restoration of statehood according to the Postcard; photographer unknown principle of legal continuity could not efface the factual legacies – political, economic, social, cultural, environmental and demographic – left behind by fifty years of sovietisation. In this sense, the use of the term ‘post-Soviet’ with regard to Estonia is not only valid, but makes the subsequent progress in domestic reform and European integration appear all the more remarkable.5 Tallinn is a city still in the process of rising from the sea, and where lost histories continually come to 4 Clark 2006: xi 5 Smith 2002: xii 4 Bruns 1993: 26 light. Tallinn’s layers of history and 700 years of foreign rule have left marks on the city that are all the more apparent because of the ongoing, successional emersion of land. To ground this report’s analysis of post-Soviet transitions and ethnic relations, I first present Tallinn in its historic context of occupation and conflict. Context and Location Figure 7 Toompea (circled) was an island before Estonia’s coast receded. Estonia, the northernmost of three Baltic nations (see Figure 1), was restored to independence in After Aunap 2004: 20, 23 1991 after 51 years of Soviet occupation. The USSR’s unlawful annexation of the Baltic States was arranged through a clandestine clause of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany. The Baltic States secured their independence through what became known as the Singing Revolution, between 1986-1991, and in the years since have experienced sweeping political and economic transformations. Figure 8 Half of Estonia is forested. The Baltic countries ‘returned to Europe’ with Estonia has many natural enthusiasm, shedding the shroud of Sovietization6 reserves and protected areas. more efficiently and effectively than many other former Soviet Republics. Estonia has achieved the highest standard of living of any former Watercolor painting by Vaike Haas painting by Vaike Watercolor USSR republic. While Estonia has the closest ties with Scandinavia and the most stable market economy, all three Baltic States were able to join the European Union in 2004. While a number of diverse cultures and nationalities have been variously considered “Baltic” since the 11th century, after World War I the Baltic region was more firmly defined as referring exclusively to Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia.7 Climate Estonia is a small country (350 by 240 km), with an area of 45,215 km2, roughly the size of Denmark. Tallinn’s latitude, at 59°26’, is roughly as far north as Oslo, Stockholm, or the Alaska Peninsula.